Looking for a good power supply under $600

[sacherjj]

I just got my DP832 after a multi month wait.  Unfortunately, it has 1.09 stock, so I can't hack in the features I don't need now, but would like to play with.  My only negative so far is this thing is LONG.  I didn't build my equipment shelf quite deep enough for it, so my front feet are just off the shelf.  No complaints other than that.

[jimjam]

Rigol should give Dave 10% commission!

I hope they have stock in Australia! I am still waiting until I decide on a scope because if I want to get a rigol I can order at the same time and ask for a discount

[robrenz]

Better order quick   Tequipment notice here

  Sorry I forgot you were in Australia 

[jaxbird]

Not wanting to upset anyone, but you might want to consider a couple of the super cheap/good value Korad supplies, likes the one Dave reviewed, but the fixed versions of course.

They will pretty much cover all your needs, plus they are more powerful than the Rigol (5A vs 3A) that is useful depending on what projects you work on.

The best part is that they are so cheap that with your budget you can always keep a couple of spares if you need even more voltages.

[jimjam]

Not wanting to upset anyone, but you might want to consider a couple of the super cheap/good value Korad supplies, likes the one Dave reviewed, but the fixed versions of course.

They will pretty much cover all your needs, plus they are more powerful than the Rigol (5A vs 3A) that is useful depending on what projects you work on.

The best part is that they are so cheap that with your budget you can always keep a couple of spares if you need even more voltages.

It seems that in Australia "Triotest" is no longer selling Korads. Amazon's price is $116 - so, In Australia..... it would be around.... $160 - $200 + 10%GST

When I looked at this:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productResults.asp?MID=3&SSUBID=821&SUBCATID=999&keyform=CAT2#3

It really makes Rigol DP832 seem like an absolute bargain compared to those power supplies they are selling at Jaycar.

The instek - lacks the ability to punch in the voltage. This model which is nowhere near Rigol's features, sells for almost the same price as rigol: http://au.element14.com/gw-instek/gps-1850d/power-supply-dc-18v-5a-90w/dp/2147730

We don't have a lot of choice here unless willing to import, and importing doesn't work well for heavy / bulky stuff. Ah well

[jaxbird]

[
It seems that in Australia "Triotest" is no longer selling Korads. Amazon's price is $116 - so, In Australia..... it would be around.... $160 - $200 + 10%GST

When I looked at this:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productResults.asp?MID=3&SSUBID=821&SUBCATID=999&keyform=CAT2#3

It really makes Rigol DP832 seem like an absolute bargain compared to those power supplies they are selling at Jaycar.

The instek - lacks the ability to punch in the voltage. This model which is nowhere near Rigol's features, sells for almost the same price as rigol: http://au.element14.com/gw-instek/gps-1850d/power-supply-dc-18v-5a-90w/dp/2147730

We don't have a lot of choice here unless willing to import, and importing doesn't work well for heavy / bulky stuff. Ah well

That's too bad, it does indeed limit your choices, always the problem with power supplies, if you can't get them locally, shipping will be significant 

Just be careful, many of the cheaper PSUs are switchmode, if you need fairly low noise linear is a must.

[G0HZU]

Have I missed any important criteria?

One of the best features of the Rigol is that it can be remotely programmed and I think that this would be the only reason I would want the Rigol on my bench.

Otherwise I don't see anything I like about this PSU. I guess we all have different opinions on what makes a good PSU but here's a few things I don't like about the Rigol 832.

The display is too small and cramped and the VA info is not above the relevant PSU output. I don't want to be looking at a tiny cramped and offset display.

It looks like you have to manually select control for each PSU by pressing a button to enable each in turn. I would not like this. It's bad enough having to look at the cramped and fussy display but to have to move my hands across several buttons just to trim each PSU supply manually would drive me mad. I'm used to old school supplies with touchy feely controls and big displays for voltage and current that you can see from across the room at a glance.

One minor gripe is that there is only one 4mm socket per terminal. I've kind of grown up using TTI supplies where you get the extra 4mm socket for the sense connection and this makes life easy when making multiple connections.

In the UK it costs about £320 so it scores very highly (in terms of bang per buck) for the fact that it is remotely programmable but I don't see much else to like when compared to buying a nearly new TTI PSU for a fraction of the price.

[sacherjj]

It looks like you have to manually select control for each PSU by pressing a button to enable each in turn. I would not like this. It's bad enough having to look at the cramped and fussy display but to have to move my hands across several buttons just to trim each PSU supply manually would drive me mad. I'm used to old school supplies with touchy feely controls and big displays for voltage and current that you can see from across the room at a glance.

While you do have to enable each channel to change it, there is an all on button for toggling all of them.

[Corporate666]

Have I missed any important criteria?

One of the best features of the Rigol is that it can be remotely programmed and I think that this would be the only reason I would want the Rigol on my bench.

Otherwise I don't see anything I like about this PSU. I guess we all have different opinions on what makes a good PSU but here's a few things I don't like about the Rigol 832.

The display is too small and cramped and the VA info is not above the relevant PSU output. I don't want to be looking at a tiny cramped and offset display.

It looks like you have to manually select control for each PSU by pressing a button to enable each in turn. I would not like this. It's bad enough having to look at the cramped and fussy display but to have to move my hands across several buttons just to trim each PSU supply manually would drive me mad. I'm used to old school supplies with touchy feely controls and big displays for voltage and current that you can see from across the room at a glance.

One minor gripe is that there is only one 4mm socket per terminal. I've kind of grown up using TTI supplies where you get the extra 4mm socket for the sense connection and this makes life easy when making multiple connections.

In the UK it costs about £320 so it scores very highly (in terms of bang per buck) for the fact that it is remotely programmable but I don't see much else to like when compared to buying a nearly new TTI PSU for a fraction of the price.

It's not really realistic to have a separate keypad for each channel, so if you get a keypad and multiple channels, you'll always need to have a way to identify which channel you're setting.

Having the display for the channel be directly above the connections is a non-issue, IMO... the display matches 1-2-3 left to right, same as the terminal layout - and the fact that you always have test leads going from the PSU to whatever you're powering already abstracts the display from whatever is connected anyway.

I also am a bit shocked anyone would say the display is cramped and small - one of the things I like about the 832 is the display is big and really easy to instantly see what's going on.  Maybe there are PSU's out there with 10" LCD's on them that I'm not aware of, but coming from single line LCD or dual line VFD PSU's like my Philips/Fluke/Agilents, I find the 832 to have a huge and really clear display.

I don't think TTI makes any models with more than 2 displays, so if you get one of their triple output units that matches channels with the DP832, there must be a switch to change what one of the displays is showing, or that output has no display.  I also don't see anything but volts/amps on the TTI's... so setting any of the dozens of features that the DP832 has must either be a chore, or those features don't exist on the TTI (which I think is the case) - stuff like OCP/OVP, tracking, timing, analysis, saving configs, etc.

Not to mention 3-channel TTI is, what, about double or triple the price?  Does the TTI have LAN/USB/RS-232, etc?

[WarSim]

I am not saying anything about bang for the buck etc. 
I have my own opinion and criteria and have chosen TTi. 
Yes I did research Rigol first mainly because of the reviews here. 
Unfortunately, close scrutiny caused them to not meet my specific criteria. 
If Rigol meets your criteria I agree they are great options.   

I am responding to mention: 
Yes some triple output TTis have three displays. 
Yes all TTis I researched can be purchased with LAN/USB/RS232 etc. 
Yes all TTis I researched had fixed or adjustable OCP/OVP. 
Yes all dual/triple TTis I researched had tracking features. 
Some of TTis I researched had profile storage. 
It is true I did not find a TTi that didn't require a computer for sequencing.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[G0HZU]

I also am a bit shocked anyone would say the display is cramped and small - one of the things I like about the 832 is the display is big and really easy to instantly see what's going on.

It was the height of the characters on the numerical display and the fact that they are clumped so closely together that I wasn't keen on. I'm used to TTI displays with approx 15mm characters with bright red 7 seg LEDs. I do like to have a display that can be read at a casual glance from way across the room. Note: I also have some TTI supplies here with old school black on grey LCD readouts and I don't like using them as much because the display is so gloomy. It's hard to read at an angle despite the 15mm character size. I kind of regret buying the LCD TTI PSUs for this reason.

[saturation]

If anyone owns a DP832, can they test the parallel configuration of this PSU?  Are both channels stable when they are connected in parallel?  What happens if you make one channel differ by 1 V?  In theory, the channel with the lesser voltage setting becomes the output voltage of both channels, and the channel with the higher voltage setting will match that voltage setting and go into constant current mode.  This is a stress test, but any linear CVCC supply can perform that test without instability [ albeit not advised in the long term as one channel is 'overworked', ideally each channel shares the work equally.]

The Rigol application note:

http://www.batronix.com/pdf/Rigol/DP8_DP1_ActiveLoads.pdf

States no 'active loads' should be applied to any channels as it could damage the 'powered device.'  It implies its not advised to parallel even its own other powered channel.

But what I think Rigol means is you cannot connect a fixed voltage source to any channels such as a fixed voltage wall wart supply, a battery or a solar cell.  A CVCC device adapts dynamically until an equilibrium is reached, and both devices are in a steady state.

Finally, an 'active load' means something like an electronic load, which clearly can be used on the DP832 so I think the wording they chose is not ideal.

[ScottyAU]

JimJam - did you end up deciding/ordering a Bench supply?  (i'm in the same boat looking at the 832 too aswell).

Cheers,

Scott

[jimjam]

Scotty,

I am going to get a Siglent DP3303D from Triotest. I haven't ordered it yet though.

About Rigol, I called Emona and they said they don't have the stock for DP832 and they're coming in July, possibly mid july. They have one DP832A in stock. My main worry about Rigol are the fan noise and the fact that they seem to have lots of issues.

I don't know, I might regret getting a siglent but I have a feeling either one will do just fine, except that I'll have to live with a noisy fan with Rigol, or the lack of keypad for Siglent. I'll only change the voltage / current occasionally but the fan runs constantly.

Yep the fan can be replaced - but technically that'll void warranty on principle, even if I could possibly circumvent it by being careful with the warranty seal.

[ScottyAU]

Do you know if the stock with Triotest is the latest revision of the hardware with the bugs fixed?

The physical foot print of the Siglent suits my bench a lot better than the depth of the Rigol.

I'd emailed the local Emona guy but hadn't heard back - interesting to know they won't have stock for so long.

Cheers,
Scotty

[jimjam]

Try calling Emona. That's how I got hold of them. I'll let you know about Triotest/siglent once I've heard back from them.

[ScottyAU]

I've dealt with the local Emona guy here in Brisbane (Richard) in the past - he's a top bloke.  I'm sure he's just a bit snowed under.  And i've got the stock answer i needed now anyway

I'll be quite interested to see what Triotest have to say ( i also emailed them this afternoon).

Cheers.

[ScottyAU]

I spoke to Triotest today - they said that they weren't aware of the issue, which was a little bit disappointing.

They did say though that there stock is only a few weeks old though - so they will be whatever the current model is.

So i've placed an order for a SPD3303D.  Will post back when it arrives. 

Looking forward to having something other than a ATX breakout power supply!

As an aside i also have a Re:Load Pro coming in a month or so (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nickjohnson/re-load-pro-a-dc-active-load) so i'll do some testing with it as well.

Scotty

[ScottyAU]

Triotest heard back from Siglent - they said they fixed the issue in December.

Triotest assure me the current stock will include this fix!

Scotty